#but things have changed so much so fast since just last year

[lillaydee]

Head Over Heels Part 7

Jackson!Joel / Reader

Special Guest Appearance by a Certain FBI Agent who may or may not look a lot like Joel.

You left the loneliness of your home and headed to Jackson with Joel and the teenage girl he was with, hoping your new life would be less lonely. You should've stayed alone.

WARNING:

Non-canon Compliant, Pining, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Joel (The Last of Us), Joel is Bad at Feelings (The Last of Us), Joel Needs a Hug (The Last of Us), Joel Lives (The Last of Us), Protective Joel (The Last of Us), Soft Joel (The Last of Us), Jealousy, Loneliness, Trauma.

MEGA WARNING: Descriptions of Attempted Sexual Assault.

@copperhalfcent @joelalorian @vickie5446 @peelieblue @nandan11 @liciafonseca @senoratess @denisanoemi @lovefreylove @heartpatch

SERIES MASTER LIST

Part 6

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***WARNING*** Allusions to r**e and death.

You ran to the doctor’s house, as well as Ike’s, telling Lucy Maria’s water broke. You ran home to change, going back to Maria’s to help in any way you could. You were excited. The last time you held a baby in your arms was when your cousin Julie gave birth, years before the outbreak. But at the same time, you couldn’t help feel scared for Maria. You lived in a world where medical equipment were scarce. Anything could happen, and there would be no hospital to go to. No ERs to visit. No specialist doctors and no NICUs if the baby had complications.

You spent hours boiling water. You had no idea why so much boiling water was needed, but you boiled away, wanting to be useful, helpful in some way. Lucy berated Maria for not saying anything – she had been having contractions for two days, it seemed, and at the party, the frequent bathroom visits were apparently to bite a towel through contractions from what she vehemently insisted were pre-labour pains.

She just wanted to have a tea party, she told you. That was all. It wasn’t as if she gave birth while sipping her tea.

Tommy was beside himself. Nothing he did seemed right. For the first time since you met him, he was quiet. Whenever he was not holding Maria’s hands, he was massaging her back.

The minutes crawled by. You walked past the nursery about five hours in to see Joel assembling the crib he made, having trouble keeping the parts upright as he tried to put them together. You remembered Tommy telling you the two of them were supposed to put the crib together today. So you knocked on the door a little, asking him if he needed help holding the pieces together. He nodded, holding up a piece for you to hold. Neither of you spoke throughout the assembly, save for when Joel asked you to hold things a certain way. The nursery was across the corridor from the master bedroom, you and Joel were in full view of the expecting parents, the doctor and Lucy, as well as Liv and Diana.

Joel’s voice giving you instructions was unlike anything you’d heard whenever he addressed you before that day. It was soft, gentle, and you felt your heart weep at the thought that he could’ve spoken to you like that all this while, he had the capability to be gentle with you but chose not to.

It must’ve shown on your face. He kept looking at you, regret clearly written all over his face. Once he finished assembling the very sturdy crib, you placed the mattress and in it and helped him move it to the spot Maria had pre-approved.

“Can we talk?” he asked, his gentle voice bordering on pleading.

“I don’t think this is the right time, Joel.”

“Elena!” Maria called out to you. You took three of the biggest steps you’d ever taken in your life to get to her as fast as you could. Just then, Maria had another contraction, holding on to Tommy as her breathing went into a pattern you remember seeing on medical TV series way back when. You stood there patiently, waiting to hear what she needed from you.

“Elena, go talk to him. Hear him out. Please.”

“Maria, now? Really?”

“Last I checked I’m the one in labour, not you. Go!”

She went through another contraction and ended her extremely painful scream with a huge glare thrown your way you got scared and went downstairs, Joel following behind. You went straight into the kitchen, making yourself a cup of coffee, realizing you hadn’t slept the whole night. Oh well, at least you were not in pain on a bed trying to get a baby out of you. You asked Joel if he wanted some, and shockingly, he nodded.

He stood awkwardly in the kitchen while you boiled the water, finally settling by leaning on one of the counters, his hands behind him. He straightened when one of his hands touched something.

The dices.

He turned around to pick them up, studying them.

“Yeah, they broke last night,” you told him. “Snagged it on something and they just broke. It’s been a while since Tess gave me that one,” you said. “I miss her.”

“Me too,” he said.

The two of you leaned on the counter, nursing your hot coffees. Maria’s scream echoed through the house. Both of you looked towards the stairs, worry enveloping both of you.

“She’ll be alright, right?” he asked you. “If anything happens to her, I don’t know if Tommy…”

“She’ll be fine, Joel. Women used to give birth while farming, you know? Just squatted, pulled their babies out and carried on farming.”

He looked horrified by the notion. “Really?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know. I think I saw that in a movie somewhere.”

He laughed. A belly laugh. Pure and true. For a moment, you forgot you and him were not speaking.

“She said her contractions started two days ago? I didn’t know labour could take this long,” he said, sipping his coffee.

“How long was the labour for Sarah?” you asked.

You could see him stop sipping. Shit. You shouldn’t have asked. Did he even know you knew about Sarah? Fuck!

“Erm… I don’t know. I wasn’t there,” he said, playing with the mug, his massive hands making it look like a tea cup.

“You weren’t?”

He shook his head.

“Her mother, Jen, was someone I had a one night stand with. We went to the same college. Hooked up at a frat party. When she told me she was pregnant, I offered to marry her. We were young, I was 20. She said no. She needed me to prove I can take care of them financially. So I got a job, part time, but she shut me out. I went to all the appointments, I was there for her, but she was not really interested in being with me for real, so we sort of agreed to co-parent, I guess? Sarah came a week early, she didn’t call me. Didn’t let me know. Baby was out an entire day before word got to me she was born. I rushed to the hospital. Jen was already packing her bag then. She let me hold Sarah and told me she was going to get the birth certificate. I was so in love with that little girl I didn’t notice.”

“Didn’t notice what?”

“That she took her bag with her. She never came back. The hospital attorney came to find me after, told me she signed away her parental rights. Just like that.”

You were at a loss for words. You had never had children, but you couldn’t imagine leaving the child you grew in your belly for nine months a day after she was born.

“I had to drop out of college, got a full time job, my parents helped, Tommy helped. We were doing okay. Saw Jen again when Sarah was maybe eight? She was with a man, married, successful, judging by the rings on her finger and the way she was dressed, didn’t even look at Sarah. So, that was that. She really didn’t want her.”

“I’m sorry, Joel.”

“Don’t be,” he said, his voice soft, almost a whisper. “Sarah was the best thing to ever happen to me. When she died, I almost… I didn’t see the point of going on. The world was in chaos, Sarah’s gone…” he took a deep breath. “But I’m glad I didn’t.”

You smiled a little, nodding. “Ellie,” you said.

“Ellie,” he nodded.

The two of you continued sipping your coffee.

“Why did you move out, Elena?”

Maybe it was the fact that he finally opened up to you about something, but you were not as angry as you were when he first asked the night before.

“I just… didn’t feel like being somewhere I am not wanted.”

His calm expression changed. “You think I don’t want you around?”

Just like that, the less than anger feeling you felt earlier flew out the window.

“I don’t know, Joel. You don’t speak to me, you don’t eat the stuff I cook, you don’t drink the coffee I make, you don’t let me do stuff around the house, you avoid me like I’m the plague. What the hell was I supposed to think?”

He went quiet for a second, as if contemplating what to say next.

“I don’t… there are things you don’t know, Elena, I need to explain things to you. It’s just, all this while, the time was not right. I want to explain, I swear, but…”

“Explain what, Joel?” you asked him, exasperation clear in your tone. You were so tired. “Joel, you’ve known me 16 years. All those time in Boston, that last night we were there was the most you’d ever spoken to me. Heck, you hardly even looked at me before that. It wasn’t a secret you hate me, Joel. Fuck, we travelled for almost a year together, and you hardly spoke to me. But oh… if I didn’t do things your way, you had no problem letting me know how wrong I was, how badly I screwed up. You’re all chatty then. And don’t get me started on…”

You had to stop. The hurt was welling up your chest, coming out of your eyes, of all places.

“Started on what?”

“You left me to die, Joel. In Salt Lake City. I nursed you back to health, and you just left me to die! Stupid me, I actually thought you would come back for me once you got Ellie. But nope. You were just gone. I waited three weeks, Joel. You didn’t even try, did you? Did you tell Ellie I died? Was that why the two of you went straight to the hospital and not bother to come back for me? Well, guess what, you want to have your little family alone with Ellie? You’ve got it. I’m gone. I’m out of the house. You could live your dream life now, without me in it. I know I’m the last person you want to spend your life living with, Joel, but we live in an apocalypse, and I don’t have the resources to get myself an extra thick set of skin to put on. I know I’m not wanted, so I left. Go get Esther or Vanessa to play house with you instead. And feel free to shove how much you prefer their slutty companies rather than…”

He got in front of you, his movement so fast it knocked the wind out of you, your words, your thoughts, all stopped. Your breaths came out as if you had just ran a marathon. His body was so close to yours your knees were touching. He loomed over you, his eyes looking down on yours, his hands caging your body on either side. His face was… something… you didn’t recognize that expression. You didn’t think it was anger, but… what was it? His chest heaved, as if he had been holding his breath the entire time you were letting it all out and now, he’d had enough.

“You think I want Esther and Vanessa rather than you? Hmm? You think I hated you all these years? You think I don’t want to share a life with you?”

His questions snapped you out of your shock. You huffed a laugh, shaking your head a little. You gently pushed his hand out of the way, shocked at how easy it was for you to do that; he put up zero fight in it, so different to the hard demeanour he had shown you in the past five seconds, placing your now cold cup of coffee in the sink.

“I heard you talk to Tommy, Joel. I know you don’t want me around. That you would never, ever, want me around. Anyone but me. So I know I’m not wrong in thinking that, Joel. But, those conversations I heard aside, let’s not just breeze through the fact that you left me to die, Joel,” you said, defeat in your voice as he stared at you with regret in his eyes. “Like I said, I know when I’m not wanted, so I left. You don’t get to act shocked. You don’t get to act all regretful. You got what you wanted. Now you can ignore me in peace.”

He looked as if he wanted to say something else, but Liv knocked on the kitchen entry wall, telling you Maria’s crowning. You’re needed upstairs. You left right away, leaving a flustered Joel in the kitchen as Liv boiled more water.

“Tell me something, Joel.”

Joel turned to look at Liv, who was now placing the pot of water on the stove.

“Why’d take you seven weeks to realize she moved out? How do you sleep across the corridor from someone and not realize they’d moved out?”

“Our schedules are different, I tried to see her, but she’s never at the greenhouse… I saw her at the hall once, but she disappeared on me. I always figured she was asleep whenever I got back and left before I woke up.”

“You don’t think knocking on her door on the off chance she was still awake would help?”

“She put a latch on her door, she obviously didn’t want to be bothered.”

Liv’s eyes narrowed. “How did you know she put a latch on her door?”

“Erm… I installed it for her.”

“No you didn’t, she did. I helped her.”

Joel’s insides went cold. Damnit. Caught.

“So… how did you know she put a latch on her door? Unless… you tried to open it when she wasn’t around… or after she fell asleep, perhaps?”

Joel went quiet. He was suddenly very interested in the mug he was holding.

“Joel, I know you don’t know me well, or at all, even, and you’re probably not gonna want to hear this coming from me, but I’m gonna tell you this anyway,” Liv said. Joel stood up straight, preparing himself for the lecture he knew he deserved.

“The only person who doesn’t see the truth about how you feel about her, is her. And that’s because you acted like she didn’t exist, and now, it’s too late for you to prove otherwise. In my opinion, there are two things you could do now, to make up for your behaviour. One, is to leave her alone. Let her be. Let her have a life again. Let her be happy. Men in town are interested in her, you know. She’s gorgeous, kind, funny, smart, she’s definitely not without interested parties. They’re just worried you might run amok if they tried. Like I said, everyone could see how you look at her, except her. You’ve blinded her to that privilege. She’s had enough of you ignoring her to the point that she no longer sees you, everything you do now is just another form of rejection for her.”

“What’s the second thing?”

“Grovel, Joel. On your hands and knees. Like your life depended on it.”

**********

Jacob Joel Miller was born at nine in the morning, almost three days after Maria felt her first bouts of contractions, named after his grandfather and uncle. Tommy looked like he was floating on air. Maria managed to look happy despite her exhaustion. Mother and son doing really well. Ellie cooed at her new cousin, excited at the prospect of babysitting and teaching him to say Ellie as his first word.

Joel held his nephew for hours, eyes just fixed on his, happy tears falling from his eyes. He told her he would tell him all about his cousin Sarah one day. Jake had Sarah’s eyes, he kept saying. Tommy agreed.

You, on the other hand, were about to topple over. You went down to the kitchen to pour yourself yet another cup of coffee. You drank it greedily while Diana was blearily going around the kitchen making breakfast for the new parents, telling you that you could go home and sleep if you wanted to. She’s going herself in a few minutes. You downed your coffee and went to pick up the dices off the kitchen counter. Maybe you could figure out how to fix them, and if you couldn’t, you’d like to save them. You made a mental note to take the necklace off for safekeeping. You were not going to lose one more thing Tess gave you.

But they were no longer there.

You searched the kitchen, looking for them, even checked the trashcan. Nothing. You were seriously on the verge of tears. Those dices meant the world to you. They were proof that Tess was in your life, a friendship you would treasure forever. You finally sat down on the couch and laid your head back after searching for hours, disappointed that you had left them out like that in the first place.

You must’ve fallen asleep. When you opened your eyes, you were lying down on a couch. You had that dream again. That dream where Joel was caressing your face, tucking your hair behind your ears, placing a blanket around you. Except, this time, you also dreamt that he carried you.

You sat up, feeling a bit disoriented. What time was it? How long had you been asleep? Fuck, you were hungry. Fuck! You had to work! You jumped up, going for the door, only for Ellie to pull you back and tell you that you didn’t have to go to work that day. They knew you were up all night with Maria. You’re okay.

It was only then you realized that you were at Joel and Ellie’s, not Tommy and Maria’s.

Erm… how did you get here?

“Come on, Joel got you lunch,” Ellie said, pulling your hand to the kitchen. 

“Ellie, how did I get here?”

“Erm, you walked. Joel and I helped you.”

You narrowed your eyes at her, she busied herself plating the food from a Tupperware container for you. She pushed it towards you, telling you to eat.

“Where is Joel?” you asked, shovelling the tater tots into your mouth.

“He went to send Tommy and Maria food. I think he’s gonna stay there a few hours. Help them out.”

You nodded, eating your food like you might never eat again ever. Ellie watched you eat, filling the time gushing about how cute Jake was. When you finally pushed the empty plate away from you, she got up and placed the plate in the sink. She asked if you had some time to talk. It’s important, she said.

The two of you got comfortable on the couch.

“Elena, Joel told me you thought he left you to die in Salt Lake City.”

You didn’t answer, just busied yourself folding the blanket you found wrapped around you.

“Elena, that’s not true. He couldn’t tell you, because it involved me. And I asked him to not tell you yet. I wasn’t ready. I am now. I want you and Joel to be okay again.”

Your entire body morphed into concern as you saw the previously happy teenager made herself smaller, he knees up against her chest, her chin on them, her eyes averted from you. So concerned, you forgot to tell her the two of you were never okay in the first place.

“When I went to distract the men, they caught me. Shot my horse. They kept me in a cell. Elena these men were cannibals. They eat people. There was this man, David,” she brought her knees closer to her body. “He was like their leader or something, he was the one who asked his men to give me the penicillin. He… uh… he wanted to make me his wife.”

You couldn’t hide your mortification from your face.

“He… uh… he tried to… you know… but I managed to… kill him,” her tears fell involuntarily as she started to rock herself forwards and backwards. You rushed towards her and took her in your arms as she sobbed in your chest.

Oh dear God.

Oh, my sweet BabyGirl.

My sweet, sweet, Ellie.

Took her a while to calm herself down. She’s okay, she assured you. She’s okay now. You could only nod, thick blobs of tears falling down your own face now.

“Anyway, Joel found me. He tried to take me back to where you were. But Elena, I was catatonic. I couldn’t function. I was in shock. And Joel, he had reinjured himself trying to get to me, he wasn’t really healed in the first place, so it took us longer than it would’ve.”

You listened, still wondering how was it that you were alone for three whole weeks, and still managed to get the hospital at the same time as they did. Even if they were slow at it, they had a three-weeks start over you.  

“When we were about a couple of days away from the housing area, there were bodies on the ground. Burnt bodies. One was a bit farther from the rest, a lady. The body was badly burnt, but… we found your scarf, Elena. And the blanket we used to cover Joel. We thought…” her face scrunched up and she began to sob uncontrollably.

“We thought you died, Elena.”

She lunged at you, crying into you again, repeating her statement over and over. We thought you died. We thought you died. We thought you died.

“Joel was devastated. We both were. He buried you. Cried at your grave. We stopped at this gas station and Joel couldn’t function. He was gone, Elena. His wound was bleeding, he didn’t want to eat, I had to force feed him, I begged, pleaded, I think he only took what I gave him to shut me up. He didn’t want to sleep, he just gave up. We were there for about two weeks. He didn’t want to go anywhere, didn’t want to do anything. I found a bottle of whiskey in a car a few streets away, I thought we could use it to clean his wound, you know? But he drank it all, mumbling to himself, talking about you over and over again. He fell asleep for a whole day straight after that, and when he woke up, he just said, let’s go. So we went. He was different after that. Like he had a new lease on life. But we thought you died. We made peace with it. That’s why we were so shocked to see you.”

You waited until her sobs lessened, finally understanding why they didn’t come back for you.

“He wouldn’t let me tell you about the lady he buried. I don’t know why. But trust me, Elena, we didn’t leave you to die. We thought you died. And judging from how devastated he was when he thought it was you, I don’t think he hates you, Elena. When Tess… went away, he was quiet… he didn’t speak… he mourned, but when he thought you had died, he… I don’t think he hates you, Elena.”

You stayed quiet, not really knowing what to do with this information. But knowing that he didn’t leave you to die, your heart felt lighter.

The front door opened and an exhausted looking Joel walked in. He stopped when he saw the two of you wrapped around each other. Ellie told him she told you. He nodded slowly, closing the door behind him and sitting himself down on the couch across from you.

Ellie got up and went into her room, mumbling she was giving you two some time to talk.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know. You should’ve told me.”

“I couldn’t.”

“Why not?”

He took a deep breath, running his hand over his face, looking like he was about to cry.

“Story for another day? A less exhausting one, perhaps?” you asked.

He laughed a little, nodding.

“Story for another day.”

**********

You, Liv and Diana were helping Jessie get his house straight. Three men had come in the night before, now in quarantine. They were healthy, uninfected and skilled with combat and survival. Tommy dragged himself away from his week old baby to handle the situation, Joel by his side as usual. They decided the men would stay, their skills and manpower would be extremely useful for the town. They would be staying with Jessie, seeing as he had the room to accommodate them.

As you finished, a knock came at the door. Joel was there to pick you up, walk you to the hall for your shift. He had been doing that since that day Jake was born. Things were better. Much better. Of course, you never told him about your crush. You figured, being friends for the first time since meeting him 16 years ago would be wiser. You were not going to move back in with him, but perhaps you could hang out a bit more? Just friends. You thought you saw a glint of disappointment when you told him that, but he composed himself and nodded. That sounds nice, he said. Let’s hang out. Just friends.

Ellie joined the two of you as you approached the hall, the lunch crowd starting to gather. As you walked into the hall, a familiar voice called out.

“Elena?”

You looked around. Two men stood from their table, staring at you as if they had seen a ghost.

Two very familiar looking men.

No, it couldn’t be.

Could it?

“Will? Benny?”

The two men got in front of you, the older man placing his hands on your face, teary eyes checking your entire body as if looking for injuries. Their faces blurred from your sight as they enveloped you in a bear hug. Words failed the three of you.

Your two big brothers. They were here. They were alive. They found you.

When they finally let go, you introduced them to Joel and Ellie, Joel shocked that they were related to you. He knew about your brothers, of course, Tess had told him. But last night, as he took their names as William and Benjamin Miller, he only smiled when Tommy joked about the similarity of their family names. He didn’t think that they were ‘the’ Will and Ben, your big brothers. Ellie was excited, having heard a lot about them from you on the road.

You felt as if your life couldn’t be better right now. Your big brothers were back, and they were going to live here with you, in Jackson.

“Hey, we’d like you to meet our friend…”

“Elena?”

You looked at the source of the voice. The third man. The one who arrived with Will and Benny last night. A familiar face was staring back at you, eyes disbelieving.

“Marcus.”

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Part 8

[ivyyisbored22]

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭— 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐅𝐅

Note: Check Description and other chapters first to understand the story ^^♡

Chapter 18

WARNING!!!🔞 This Chapter contains SMUT: Oral (f.recieving), fingering, semi public, slightest of dirty talk.

Minors do not interract!!!

Aria

There's a 99% chance that an alien took over Chris's body in the past week. And the remaining 1% is that he's actually changing. Trying to change, at least, if we put it in a proper sense.

Getting one step closer to Chris feels like discovering a new part of him and a part of myself I buried down after my last relationship.

Blond, blue eyes, class topper and who looked like the perfect boyfriend, Luke was my ex who I met in business school during my first year. We were made for eachother, or so I thought. We dated for two years, until I walked into him having sex with my best friend on MY birthday.

What an amazing surprise. The bastard had been cheating on me since our 2nd anniversary, that betrayal felt like waking up from a beautiful dream, only to find yourself trapped in a nightmare you never saw coming.

I had grown distant from everyone since then, shutting myself from any relationships after that. Unable to see me suffer internally while not being myself in the outlook was why my parents asked me to get married to Chris, hoping it would make me forget everything.

The heartbreak I went through with Luke is a scar that refused to heal so fast or easily.

But I don't blame them. Some things were easier to be left than to explain and the in the end we have different perspectives of viewing the world. To their eyes settling down after business school was the solution.

Although unknown to my parents was also a certain lingering deadline between Chris and me, that I wasn't healed and still played a fake version of myself in front of others.

I was never destined for true love or a happy ending.

Our marriage was stable, predictable, and perhaps a bit too routine. I had grown accustomed to Chris's cold nature, his affection expressed in the form of providing comfort and security rather than warm embraces or whispered sweet nothings.

The security system in the mansion was tightened, Chris didn't bring up about that Victor guy again, so I didn't ask about it again. Assuming he had whatever of that under control.

But this past week, something had changed. It was in the small things—like how he would pause to ask about my day with genuine interest, or the way his fingers would linger just a bit longer when he brushed against my hand.

Or how today I'm roaming inside one of the biggest bookstores in the city, but is closed for the public because Chris wanted me to spend however long I wanted freely. He had rented the whole place for the entire day.

"Chris, this is too much," I said, turning to face him.

The soft lighting of the empty bookstore with no signs of staff but just the two of us created an intimate atmosphere, making the moment feel surreal. Chris was in a simple tee, jacket and denim trousers today, unlike his usual coat suit and dress shirt outfits, the casual attire adding to the sense that I was seeing a different side of him.

"It's not too much. I could have bought the place if you hadn't stopped me." He said smirking, giving me a view of his leathal dimple that made my stomach do a summersault.

That he would have. As COO of Aurelius, he will go beyond limits to get and do whatever he wanted.

"Well, good that you listened," I replied, rolling my eyes playfully. "Buying the entire bookstore might have been a bit over the top, even for you."

"I'll have you know sweetheart, I've bought things that are way more than a bookstore." A cocky eyebrow arched as he let out a deep chuckle.

"Like what?" I asked, crossing my arms joining his banter.

"The guys and I wanted to go to the Bahamas last summer but our yacht was under maintenance," He slipped his hands into his pockets, "So I bought another one."

My jaw fell unhinged, and eyes widening as I struggled to comprehend the audacity of his statement. "You...bought another yacht? Just like that?"

Chris nodded casually, his posture and expression relaxed as if discussing the purchase of a new pair of shoes.

"Yeah, it seemed like the logical solution at the time."

I couldn't help but laugh incredulously. "Logical solution? Most people would just postpone the trip or I don't know fly there."

"Well, it seemed like a good excuse to upgrade so I figured why not?" he said with a nonchalant shrug, his smirk widening.

"Sure," I slowly nodded, "But it doesn't mean you have to go to such extremes. Like this one right now," I countered, though I couldn't help but smile at his grand gesture.

"Extremes are kind of my thing, Aria," Chris said, leaning against a bookshelf, his buff bicep against the books made my stomach do another flip.

"You should know that by now."

"Yeah, I've noticed," I said, shaking my head, running my fingers through the spines of the Lord of the Rings series.

"You're like a bull in a china shop"

"I prefer 'strategic disruptor,'" he replied, his eyes twinkling with amusement. Our eyes locked briefly for a second, then I turned away, browsing the shelves.

From Shakespeare to best selling authors today, having their own shelves of their books, the building was spacious and three floors high, giving any reader an experience of a lifetime.

There were small lounges in two corners of each floor, cozy and inviting, with plush armchairs and warm lighting, perfect for curling up with a book. The air was filled with the faint scent of aged paper and fresh ink, a fragrance that always brought me comfort.

"Thank you, for this" I turned back to him as I took a random book off a shelf, Chris's eyes were already on me, watching my every move.

"You don't have to thank me for everything," Chris walked towards to me, closing the distance, "You're worth it."

I felt my cheeks flush as well as the butterflies in my stomach frantically erupt, as if closing down a store for a day was the most natural thing in the world.

His words warmed something deep inside me, a place I had thought long frozen. The old Aria, the one who believed in grand gestures and romantic surprises, stirred within me. But I had to remind myself to be cautious; just a week of change could not erase the last months of indifference.

But we'll never know.

As we walked shelf after shelf, an exclusive copy of one my favourite books caught my eyes. I immediately went and took it in my hands, the cover of the book held me captive in my spot.

The title was embossed in gold, glistening under the lights. The rich, deep red background was adorned with intricate patterns of flowers and foliage, intertwining with dragons that seemed almost alive. Each petal and leaf was meticulously detailed, their colors vibrant against the dark, quilted texture behind them.

"Hmm?" Chris came behind me, he was carrying two baskets that were full of the newest thrillers and romance. I kind of felt bad for making him trail after me like a pack mule.

"This is the last one I promise. It's a special edition" I showed him the book, my eyes sparkling with excitement.

Chris glanced at the cover, his expression remaining stoic but with a hint of amusement playing at the corners of his mouth. "A special edition? Looks like I'm not the only one around here with expensive tastes."

I chuckled, hugging the book to my chest. "Well, this is worth it. Look at the detail. It's a piece of art."

"Alright, if it makes you happy," He brought the basket up and I placed the book on the top of the stack, a wide smile spread across my face that refused to go away.

"Is this all you want? You're free to get as many as you like Aria. This whole place is yours." He said genuinely, his tone matter-of-fact. I shook my head, still smiling, a warm feeling spreading across my chest.

"As a slow reader these are going to keep me alive for a year or even more. They are enough."

He nodded, a hint of understanding in his eyes. "If you say so"

For a moment, I felt a rare connection with him. It wasn't about grand emotions or declarations; it was about this simple, shared experience. Chris might not be the most emotionally expressive person, but in his own way, he was trying.

And that effort meant more to me than any expensive gift ever could.

"Thank you," I said softly, squeezing his arm. "This really means a lot."

"Well, I hope you have a good place to put all these," he replied, a touch of sarcasm returning to his voice.

"Because my study is not turning into a library."

I laughed, rolling my eyes. "Don't worry, I have it covered."

After I got all the books I wanted, we made our way from the section and instead of going to the counter on the ground floor, Chris stopped walking and placed the baskets on a table, turning to me with a mischievous smirk spread playing on his lips.

I froze in my place, feeling my pulse race as he slowly strode towards me like a majestic wolf, his eyes on me. The way he moved, so confident and purposeful, sent a shiver down my spine.

"What are you up to?" I asked, trying to sound casual but failing to hide the tremor in my voice.

Chris stopped just inches from me, his gaze intense. "Just thought we could take a moment to enjoy this place properly. No rush, right?"

I swallowed hard, feeling the warmth of his presence envelop me. "No rush," I echoed, my voice barely a whisper.

He reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, his touch lingering just a bit longer than necessary. "Good...because,"

Before he finished, he lifted my chin and his mouth met mine, burying his tongue while his hand traced my cheek then sank in my hair. My fingers pressed on his arms as I melted into his taste of mint and sugar, it was an addiction.

I preferred vanilla and cinnamon but I suppose the taste of Chris is much better.

He pulled me closer to him, we were pressed against eachother and there, I felt him growing hard, excitement and anticipation rushed through my body. Chris's hand gently closed behind my neck as he deepend the kiss, slowly slowly striding and having me pressed against a shelf.

I opened my eyes and looked above him, ironically we were under the romance section. Chris removed his mouth from mine, his hand still around my neck, while his other hand went to the hem of my skirt, tracing the line.

"Because what?" I pulled back, arching a brow as I challenged him, my voice breathless yet defiant.

"Because," he murmured, his breath hot against my ear, "I want to make sure you have the best time."

His fingers slid up my thigh, sending shivers through me. The intensity of his gaze, combined with the firmness of his grip on my neck, made my heart race. Every touch, every movement, was deliberate and electrifying.

"Chris..." I whispered, my resolve wavering as his hand inched higher, the thrill of being in such a public, yet intimate setting and the chance someone might walk in on us only heightened the sensations coursing through me.

"Shh," he hushed me softly, his lips brushing against my earlobe, his thumb brushing my bottom lip.

"No rush, remember?"

His words echoed in my mind, the promise of slow, tantalizing pleasure as his hand reached the edge of my panties. I gasped, my body responding eagerly to his touch, leaving fire in their wake.

Chris's lips found mine again, more demanding this time. I could feel his desire, his need, and it mirrored my own. Our kiss deepened, becoming a battle of wills and passion, his hand tightened around my neck, a mix of dominance and tenderness that left me breathless.

With a smooth glid, he slid my panties to the side and a finger found its way through my wet folds. I jerked as he inserted another, a knowing smirk spread across his face looking at how easily and quickly wet and turned on I get.

Paced pumps, breathless kisses and pinned among the shelves of love stories and whispered promises, only added a layer of forbidden excitement to our encounter. He pressed the heel of his palm against my clit, making a soft moan gasp free out of me.

"Mmm... you're clenching me babydoll."

My lips parted, I wanted to say things but nothing came out at how good his fingers curled inside of me, my blood was on liquid fire. The only sensations were pleasure, want and pure need.

Time lost its meaning along with my senses, Chris had pushed my top up, his mouth was closed around my sensitive nipple and his digits pushed deeper inside me. He was licking, sucking, teasing, stretching and playing with me tearing moans, and cries from my throat.

He then sank onto his knees, parting my legs, circling my sensitized clit with the tip of his tongue. His chin grazed my skin as he kissed the nub, his breath fanning over me and burying his face in my heat, drawing my clit into his mouth and sucked.

"Oh my...oh my God..."

I instantly arched against the shelf, the books shook threatening to fall but thankfully they were pushed to the back. My hand went over my face to cover my squeals and whimpers escaping and echoing off the quiet walls, I felt his eyes watch me from beneath me.

Every thought was erased away from my brain as pleasure fogged like a mirror after a hot shower.

My hand fisted his hair as his teeth grazed over my swollen, tender clit, going from slow and languid licks, lapping away my arousal like a man possessed. My hips bucked, seeking for relief but Chris's strong fingers held me in place.

Chris had an uncanny ability to make me feel like I was seeing stars during the day, even when we were under a roof. His hands and mouth worked magic on me, leaving me breathless, trembling, and craving more.

The tingles of an orgasm began to build deep within me as he expertly moved his tongue over my clit, each stroke pushing me closer to the edge. The tension coiled tighter and tighter inside me until I knew I couldn't hold it in any longer. If I tried, I would surely implode.

The pressure finally erupted as my orgasm washed over me like a tidal wave crashing onto the shore, making my body shudder uncontrollably. My thighs trembled as I came, my arousal dripping down my legs and onto his face. 

But Chris wasn't done with me yet. Not by a long shot. One moment I was arching against the shelf praying for the books not to fall on us as he tongue fucked me, the next I was on my back, pinned on the floor.

He switched positions just like that.

"You have quite an interesting taste in literature sweetheart," Chris murmured into my ear, his hot breath sending a shiver down my spine.

His words were teasing, but they carried a dark edge that made my pulse quicken. As he spoke, he pushed my skirt up, a cool air hitting my exposed and vulnerable self.

"Wha—what?" I stammered, my own voice sounded different to my ears. "Did you read—" Heat flushed up my cheeks when I realised he must have flipped through one of the romance books from the stack.

Oh God.

"I might have read a page or two," he admitted, his tone light, but there was something in his eyes—something dark and full of intent. He pushed his tongue against the inside of his cheek, a simple gesture that made my core throb with renewed need.

"And I thought, why not create our own scene?"

Before I could even form a response, Chris's mouth crashed down on mine in a kiss that was both punishing and possessive. It was as if he was punishing me for the guilty pleasure of my reading material, but also claiming his approval in the most primal way possible.

He held my hips with a bruising force, I dimly heard the rasp of the zipper and then he hammered inside me in one powerful thrust. The sudden invasion made me gasp out, the sharp sound echoing softly in the confined space.

My nails dug into the carpet as I clung to him, one hand gripping his stiff bicep. God, I could never get used to the feel of him inside me.

So hot, so huge, so impossibly hard.

Every time he entered me, it felt like the first time, my body straining to accommodate him. The sensation was overwhelming, making my head spin and my body tremble.

A strong hand came over my mouth to silence my embarrassing moans, my eyes fluttered open, meeting Chris's intense gaze. The corner of his mouth twitched in a knowing smug smirk as he continued thrusting into me with relentless precision.

"Shh," he chuckled as he continued wrecking me. "You don't want someone to hear how much you love being fucked in your little haven, now do you?"

The fact that someone actually could walk in on us was disastrous but there was no time to process anything other than the feel and the heat of him against me, flesh against flesh as he shattered me apart, the pressure and pleasure was beyond ecstacy. 

The telltale tingles built inside me again, threatening to spill over as he took me apart piece by piece.

"Your pussy is made for me sweetheart. Fuck you're so tight." He growled,his voice thick with lust as he watched me writhe beneath him.

My body responded to his every word, my muscles clenching around his cock as the nerves in my stomach coiled tighter and tighter. My heart pounded frantically against my ribcage, and I could feel the tension building to an almost unbearable level.

I hadn't imagined Chris would surprise me with a whole day at a bookstore when he proposed we go out. And I definitely hadn't imagined we'd end up like this—fucking in the romance section, surrounded by books, with nothing but the tall shelves to seclude us from reality.

"God, Chris..." I gasped, my voice breaking as I felt the pressure reach its peak.

"My name sounds so good when you moan it baby," He groaned or chuckled. I couldn't say.

I was too lost in my world of lust, I forgot my own name. Everything else faded away until all that existed was the feel of him inside me, driving me to madness.

Tears leaked out of my eyes at the sensation, fingers clawing and mouth falling open in a reckless cries. Thrust after thrust, another toe-curling orgasm gushed through me like fire rushing and igniting in a pool of gasoline, bursting stars behind my eyes.

I fell into a boneless mess. 

Chris groaned and I felt his cock twitching uncontrollably as a hot load of cum gathered inside me. He slowed his movements, his breath coming in heavy pants as he rode out the last of his own release.

He leaned down, softly brushing his lips against mine, and I could feel the smile that lingered there—a smile of triumph, of satisfaction, of a man who knew exactly what he was doing to me.

We hung there, breathless and tangled together, the aftershocks of my climax still rippling through me. My mind was still swimming in the aftermath, trying to process the sheer intensity of what had just happened, when I felt Chris begin to move.

He let out a deep, satisfied chuckle as he got up, adjusting his clothes with a nonchalant ease. With just one casual swipe of his hand through his hair, he looked completely composed—flawless, even—as if he hadn't just fucked me into another dimension.

Meanwhile, I was a mess. My legs felt like jelly, barely able to hold me up as I struggled to regain my balance. Every nerve in my body was still buzzing, my core pulsing with a heartbeat all its own. I most definitely won't be able to walk tomorrow or probably right now.

My breath hitched lightly when I felt him clean me up with a tissue. A tender gesture that made my heart ache in the most bittersweet way.

Chris helped me get up and fixed my clothes, smoothing down my hair. His fingers brushed lightly over my tear-stained cheeks, lingering just a second longer than necessary, as if savoring the feel of my skin. The silence between us spoke volumes. 

Chris wasn't one to use words carelessly, and in moments like this, his actions said more than any words ever could. I clung to him, still trying to find my footing, both physically and emotionally.

His eyes were on me, those burning brown eyes that seemed to see straight through me, and even though he didn't say a word, I could feel the intensity of his gaze.

We've had sex countless times by now, but every time it feels different—more intense, more profound. But this time, this was something else entirely. It was as if he had pushed me beyond my limits, only to pull me back again, leaving me reeling from the sheer force of it.

This was, hands down, the best one yet, and I could feel it in every aching muscle and every rapid heartbeat.

My eyes drifted down to the damp stain on the green carpet, a vivid reminder of just how lost I had been in the throes of pleasure. Embarrassment flooded me, my face flushing hot as I imagined the poor soul who would have to clean up after us.

I glared up at Chris, half-expecting him to share in my mortification, but instead, he just smirked, his expression completely unapologetic, not giving a flying fuck.

"Let's get your books home." He wrapped an arm around my waist, taking the book baskets from the table and walking me to towards the elevator to get to the ground floor.

I couldn't process how he went from fucking me on the floor like it was the last day on the planet to smiling casually as if he had been doing nothing but accompany me with my shopping spree.

Once we made it to the ground floor, Chris placed the baskets on the counter and the woman behind started scanning the books. He payed for them and I saw him leave a huge tip to the staff, again my face flushed crimson.

A young boy brought the bags to the car and placed them in the trunk, after settling in, we made our home.

"Enjoyed your day?" Chris's eyes were fixed on the road, but I knew he meant more than just the shopping.

"Every moment of it." I looked at him, those silver hoop earrings glinted in the daylight, drawing attention to his strong jawline.

Chris's eyes fell on me for a second, he nodded, a small, satisfied smile playing at the corner of his lips.

"Good. I'm glad to hear that."

As we drove through the city streets, Chris's hand gently slipped with mine, the comfortable silence between us spoke volumes. The day had been filled with more than just books, it had been a day of connection, of tentative steps towards understanding each other better.

When we arrived to the mansion, Chris carried the bags inside, placing them on the living room coffee table. I followed him, feeling a sense of contentment that had been absent for so long.

He turned to me, brushing a lock of hair behind my ear, I instinctively leaned into his palm, savoring the rare moment of tenderness.

"I don't want to leave, but um..." His words trailed off, a hand rubbing the back of his neck but I knew what he was going to say next.

My heart sank just a little bit.

"Go on," I said, his expression softed, a flicker of something unspoken passing between us. "I'm gonna spend the all the time reading while you're at work."

I played a soft smile, knowing he had to go back to his responsibilities. Chris sighed, his thumb gently grazing my cheek.

"I'll try to be back soon." He said softly, a rare hint of reluctance in his eyes. "I know," my smile widened just a bit.

"Alright," He pulled me to another bruising kiss, breathing me in as he bit my bottom lip. "I'll see you later."

As he turned to leave, I couldn't help but feel a mix of emotions. There was the usual frustration of him having to rush off, but also a newfound appreciation for the tiny effort he was making to connect with me.

I watched him drive away, the mansion fell into a deep silence again as I went back inside and picked up the special edition book that had caught my eye earlier.

Running my fingers over the intricate cover, I felt a surge of gratitude for this day and for Chris's efforts to make it memorable.

I opened the book, ready to lose myself in its pages, knowing that Chris and I were slowly finding our way to each other, one small step at a time.

------------------------

Taglist: @bowsnbang @bangchannie97lov @hwasmints @laurenalpha123 @mrs-hwangh @greyyeti @sociallyawkward18 @stephanieeeyang @piscesrising01 @jaquisos @de-uns-tempos-pra-ca @princess-sunshyn @my-neurodivergent-world @ladyeagle @nchhuhi

If you want to be added to the taglist, let me know <3 (If I missed someone please lmk)

Thank you for reading!

xx,Ivyy

Next Chapter

[justwhisperingfantasies]

Saving People -1-

Request from @deanwinchestersgirl8734

Idk if you can but can you do a dean and 911 crossover fic like dean comes to get the reader like he did Sam but finds the reader is a firefighter and friends with buck

Supernatural/911 crossover count me in!! I had so much fun writing this one. I hope this is what you were looking for 🤍

P.s - I did tag my Dean girls. I understand it's a crossover, so if you don't want to be tagged in this mini series just reach out 🤍

Your eyes shot open as you heard the thud from downstairs. Heart pounding, you strained to listen, every nerve on edge. The silence that followed was almost deafening, but you knew you hadn't imagined the sound. You slowly slipped out of bed, grabbing the silver knife from under your pillow.

You moved through the darkness ready to strike, approaching your roommate’s door you peeked through the crack.

You watched his chest for breathing, the rhythmic rise and fall confirming he was asleep. Reassured, you crept further.

 You descended the staircase, peering into the dimly lit kitchen, finding a figure in front of your fridge.

“Heya Sweetheart.” He said as he turned around.

“Dean?!” You let out a sigh of relief. You walked over to the bar, laying your knife down. “Dumbass! I could have killed you.”

He chuckled. “It’s gonna take a lot more then that little knife to kill me, but it’s nice that you’ve kept it.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Right now, making a sandwich. Are you out of mayo?” He turned back to the fridge. “Never mind found it.”

“Oh, sorry.” Your roommate stood at the bottom of the stairs in his boxers. “I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s fine, Buck, go back to bed.”

He nodded and went back up the stairs.

“Well, he’s cute.” Dean muttered as he continued with his sandwich.

You rolled your eyes. “He’s my roommate.”

“mmhhmm” he smirked, holding a beer out to you.

“No, I have to work in the morning.”

“Well look who sold out.” He teased.

“What do you want, Dean?”

“I need your help.”

“Oh my God. The amazing Dean Winchester needs my help?”  you said dramatically “I need to mark this date in my calendar”

“You done?”

You chuckled. “What’s up?”

“It’s my dad. I haven’t talked to him in a few days.”

“Sounds like classic John Winchester to me.”

“No, it’s different now. He always checks in.” you raised your eyebrows. “He’s changed “

John Winchester was capable of a lot of things, but you wouldn’t put change on that list.

“Please.” Dean pleaded, staring into your eyes, using those damn emeralds against you.

“Give me 5 minutes.” You huffed.

 You walked out the front door of your apartment building, oversized coffee mug filled, Dean had the trunk of the impala open, sorting through some papers.

“Look at you.” You said walking up to the car. Dean’s head turned towards you. “Just as pretty as the first time I seen you.” You ran your hand over the rear fender of the Impala.

Dean laughed. His smile faded as he looked at the emblem on your chest. “Did you shrink your roommate’s hoodie?” he used air quotes on roommate and pointed to the L.A.F.D printed in bold red letters.

You sighed. “Whatcha got Deanie?”

He glared at your smirked face.

He exhaled sharply “So Dad was checking out this thing just outside of Jericho. About a month ago, this guy vanished.” He held up the printed-out report.

“Are we sure he didn’t.”

“There’s another one a month before that, another one in December.” He flipped through the printed reports. “Another, another, anoth…”

“I get the point.”

“10 over the last 20 years. Their cars were found in the exact same spot. Just gone.” Dean collected all the papers and placed them into a folder. “Dad went to check it out about 3 weeks ago, I haven’t heard from him since he got there.” He put the folder in the trunk and picked up a tape recorder. “And I got this a couple days ago.”

You listened as he pushed the play button. It was John’s voice mixed with static and a screeching sound.

“Did you.”

He smiled at you. “of course I did.” He fast forwarded a little bit and hit play again.

“I can never go home.” You repeated. He nodded. “What the hell?”

Dean put everything back in the secret compartment and shut the lid.

“I’m not quite sure.” He sat down on the back of the Impala, Trunk still open. You held out the mug to him. He took a sip. “Come find out with me.”

You sighed.

“Oh, come on y/n. I can’t do this alone.”

You scoffed a laugh. “Yes, you can.”

“You’re right I totally could, but I don’t want to.” He handed your coffee back and stood up. “Picture it. Cruising in the Impala jamming out with your best friend and kicking ass.”

“I can’t just leave. I have a job, a life, a.”

“a roommate.” He cut you off.

You rolled your eyes again.

“Alright. I get it.” He huffed.

“I hope you find him, Dean.”

“Me too.”

“I’m sorry I interrupted last night.” Buck slid to your side and nudged your elbow with his.

“You didn’t.”

“What did Buck interrupt?” Chimney asked as he walked into the firehouse kitchen.

“Nothing.” You told him.

“Y/n had a boy over last night.”

There was a gasp behind you. “A boy?”  Hen asked making her way to the coffee pot.

“It’s nothing. Can we focus on something else please.”

Buck smiled. “of course.”

The three of them looked in different directions for a minute. Then Hen turned to Buck. “What did he look like?”

You huffed

“Good looking guy.”

“Were they?” Chimney waggled his eyebrows.

“No!” you sneered.

“Well, who knows what would have happened if I didn’t walk in.” Buck teased.

“I hate all of you.” You turned to walk away, almost walking right into Captain Nash. “Sorry Cap.”

“What are they up to now?” He asked you

“Torturing me.”

“About what?”

“Nothing.”

“y/n had a boy over last night.” Chimney spoke up.

“A boy?!” Cap’s mouth fell open.

You sighed and walked away.

Dean walked into the firehouse he followed her to this morning.

“Hey, you lookin’ for y/n?”

Dean looked up trying to find the source of the question “Yeah, have you seen her?”

Buck poked his head over the firetruck.

“Oh, you’re the roommate.” Dean acknowledged

Buck chuckled and got to his feet. “That’s me.” He said climbing down the ladder on the side.  He stuck his hand out to Dean once his feet were on the ground. “Evan Buckley, everyone calls me, Buck.”

“Dean Winchester.” He said, shaking Buck’s hand.

“Thee Dean Winchester?”

“Depends. Have you heard good or bad things?”

“Some good, some bad.”

Dean chuckled. “I guess I’ll take that.”

Buck grinned. “Hey Chim!”

“Yeah?” Chimney answered leaning on the railing of the upper level. Dean turned toward him.

“Is y/n up there?” Buck pointed at Dean behind his back mouthing, this is him.

“y/n!!” Chimney yelled. “I don’t think so. Try the gym.”

“You guys have a gym?” Dean asked as he followed Buck.

“Yea, it was actually your girl’s idea.”

Buck opened the door to the gym, “Hey Hen. Have you seen y/n. She has a visitor.”

Her eyebrows raised. “Nope sorry. Try the dorm.

“There she is.” Buck whispered as he led Dean into a room full of beds. She was laying with one arm resting on the forehead, one earbud in, Toes tapping to the music. “It was nice to meet you, Dean.”

“Same.”

You felt the bed dip below his weight as he sat down. You didn’t move or open your eyes.

“What are you doing here, Dean?”

“How’d you know it was me?” he asked.

“You smell like leather and coffee.”

He chuckled. “Whatcha listenin’ to?”

“Music.”

“Smartass.” He chuckled again. “So, a firefighter huh?”

“Yep.”

“Can’t imagine where you came up with that one.”

You opened your eyes to find a big grin on his face.

You shrugged “Some guy.”

He laughed.

“Ya know I could really use your help on this one.” Dean whispered.

“Dean…”

“Come on you can’t get a few days off?”

“What’s wrong?” Bobby stopped as he walked by.

“Dean Winchester, Captain Bobby Nash. Cap This is Dean.”

“Nice to meet Sir.” Dean shook his hand.

“Likewise. So, what’s going on?” Bobby asked.

“It’s my dad Sir.” Dean explained “He went on a hunting trip, and he hasn’t been home in a few days.”

“y/n can I see you in my office?” Babby asked and walked away.

“Damnit Dean. You’re not here 5 minutes and I’m in trouble.”

“Just like old times.” He grinned.

><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><

“I’m sorry, Cap.” You apologized as you walked into his office.

“Sit.” He pointed to the chair facing him. You did as you were told. “You told me the Winchester were the closest thing to family you had before you came here.”

“Yes Sir.”

“So why are you here?”

“I have a job to do Sir.”

“I’ll call in a floater, you go help your family.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, go.”

You turned around before you closed the door. “Thanks Cap.”

“Be careful.”

><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><

You walked back to the dorms, Dean was still sitting on your bed.

"Alright Winchester." You playfully kicked his boot. "One condition."

Dean's face lit up "Anything."

You smirked. "I drive.

@idk6505 @jackles010378 @mqdhvtter @nightxcreature @kamisobsessed

@perpetualabsurdity @barnes70stark @wonderland2022 @quietgirll75 @nancymcl

@hobby27 @madebyhappymeals @hunter-or-the-hunted @deanwinchestersgirl8734 @gardenofeden07

@deansimpalababy @roseblue373 @1313diana @lmg14 @aand13b

@phoenixqueen @spnaquakingdom

[shopwitchvamp]

I wanted to add a gentle reminder/explanation beneath this harsh one, haha. This is at no one in particular but just anyone that might wonder about these things:

I know it's frustrating when a design someone really wants is sold out, your size isn't available, or a different version of something you really like doesn't exist yet- but please keep in mind that we're a tiny 2 person business operating out of our apartment🙏

We don't have the space or the funds it'd take to keep everything in stock all the time (I'd have to do the math on it but as a very simplified example, let's say I have about 100 designs at 4 sizes each and want to have at least 10 pieces on hand in each size.. that'd mean needing to be able to store 4,000 pieces of clothing and just to be able to order them in the first place I'd need well over $100k liquid cash on hand 😱😵‍💫🫥).

This whole time I've built my business up one step at a time without ever taking loans, and I plan to keep going slowly and steadily and not trying to make any sudden leaps to scale 20 levels up like taking out a huge loan and renting a warehouse and buying a larger vehicle to be able to transport all that stuff and needing to hire employees to keep up with it all and.. etc, etc *tries not to have an anxiety meltdown just thinking about it*

I realize I operate in a way and on a timeline that isn't very compatible with the speed everything moves at these days, or with how business is often done in the US, or to be able to meet the expectations people have of "online shopping" in general. But overall it's really working for me, and I don't even know if I want my business to end up as big as it *could* be if I let things just barrel down the road totally uncontrolled.

I hope everyone can understand where I'm coming from and that I'm doing my best! There's also always a lot going on behind the scenes that isn't at all apparent from just looking at the shop or seeing a couple posts on social media. Things are growing and improving all the time, but it will take time ☺️

[autisticaradiamegido]

day 129

so was anybody going to tell me @adorkastock had their own random pose generator now or was i just supposed to find that out on my own

[icewindandboringhorror]

currently at That Point which occurs once every few months where one briefly begins pacing around the house teary eyed contemplating selling their own organs or becoming an online scammer or getting on anxiety meds so you can bear the risk taking required to be a hitman or so on and so forth.... why must everything so Expensive... Surely all would be healed in life if only I had one big plate of lasagna and a simple loan of $40,000 ... auoughhh....

[jinstronaut]

this is also why i stopped using my tracked tag for a while tbh

[peapod20001]

Did sleeping help

No </3

[mayakern]

Things are bad right now.

As many of you know, way back in 2020 we weren’t sure if our business was gonna make it. Our factory was already on break for Lunar New Year–a month-long holiday for many businesses in the area–and with the announcement of COVID19, everything shut down indefinitely. We knew immediately we were in for a bad time. Despite our fears, our sales grew so far beyond anything we ever expected, to the point where we had to hire two employees just to keep up with demand! 

Unfortunately, even after our factory reopened, our problems were not over. Their quality drastically declined almost immediately, to the point that a significant amount of our  fabric would literally fall apart in transit between the factory and our office. Because of this, we discovered that our sales rep had no idea what she was doing and knew nothing about the factory she was representing, so when we told her the fabric was garbage her response was “👍 factory said it’s good!” At the beginning, only roughly 10% of our new product was defective and we were able to sell the affected items with a reasonable discount. By the end of our relationship with that factory, 40% of our midi skirts and 70% of our miniskirts were defective, some affected so severely that they practically fell apart when touched. And still, our rep said everything was fine and there were no problems and the fabric composition had not changed.

So in 2022 we changed factories. We hired Ash to handle this since I was way too busy managing fulfillment to do the amount of research and communication necessary to find us a factory that met our criteria. Finding clothing factories that can make clothing over a size 2-3X is significantly more difficult than one that can’t because it often requires larger and more expensive machinery. But Ash did it: she got us set up with a new factory that has excellent certifications for both their labor practices and their methods for textile production, that delivers consistent, high quality sewing on well made fabric that can be printed without suffering loss in detail–and she was armored with the knowledge for what makes a quality garment so she could check them if they tried to screw us on quality. Their minimum orders were way higher than our previous factory’s, so we decided to focus on ordering more units of fewer designs. We ordered way too much our first round–some of those designs were in stock until the 2024 blowout sale! But it worked out, and slowly we had a warehouse full of stuff to sell.

Fast forward to 2024, business is slowing down between the economy being bad and what seemed to be a general skirt fatigue amongst our customers. We tried expanding into shirts, which would’ve been successful if our minimums were lower. In the late spring we realized we were in trouble if we didn’t make drastic changes and we ultimately decided to end in-house fulfillment and transfer to a third party fulfillment center that would support domestic shipping in Canada and eventually the UK, EU, and Australia. In order to make that transition affordable we drastically discounted everything and that sale was super successful! We were able to begin shipping from the fulfillment center with an almost clean slate, even if it did mean having to close the store for almost two months and thereby missing out on two very important months of sales.

Unfortunately, we were stupid. We continued to order new designs on an every other month schedule instead of switching to an every month schedule, forgetting that having a backstock in a variety of designs is what previously helped us float between orders and now we quite literally didn’t have enough inventory to match the sales we made for last year’s holiday sale.

That brings us to now.

We’re a little stuck. We have a round of skirts in production (yay!) but they won’t get here until February (boo!). To get back on that monthly cycle we would need to order the next round of skirts right now, but we can’t pay for production until that next round of skirts gets here; if the current sale goes well, it’s paying payroll, not production. We are currently in the very difficult, horrible situation of not having enough money for next month’s payroll unless we are somehow able to make significant sales with our very sparse inventory.

We’re scrappy and we do our best to adapt to disasters and I’m sure we’ll find a way to adapt to this one as well, it’ll just take us some time to get there. Basically we’re going to be okay eventually–hopefully later this year–but in the meantime if we seem frantic, now you know why. 

If you’re been considering trying out our viscose shirts but haven’t been able to justify paying full price, they’re on clearance PLUS half off right now! That’s $9-$15 for the viscose tops, and other tops on clearance are $20-$45. Some of the shirts we’re having a LOT of trouble selling are now priced below cost to help us recoup some of the money we spent making them.

Any amount of support helps right now. Sharing posts, telling your friends, buying a $9 shirt–all of it helps. If our clothing isn’t your thing, we also have a Patreon you can support for as little as $1 a month. https://www.patreon.com/mayakern

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a great rest of your day and that 2025 is a brighter, kinder year for us all.

[foone]

why are printers so hated? it's simple:

computers are good at computering. they are not good at the real world.

the biggest problems in computers, the ones that have had to change the most over the time they've existed, are the parts that deal with the real world. The keyboard, the mouse, the screen. every computer needs these, but they involve interacting with the real world. that's a problem. that's why they get replaced so much.

now, printers: printers have some of the most complex real-world interaction. they need to deposit ink on paper in 2 dimensions, and that results in at least three ways it can go on right from the start. (this is why 3D printers are just 2D printers that can go wrong in another whole dimension)

scanners fall into many of the same problems printers have, but fewer people have scanners, and they're not as cost-optimized. But they are nearly as annoying.

This is also why you can make a printer better by cutting down on the number of moving elements: laser printers are better than inkjets, because they only need to move in one dimension, and their ink is a powder, not a liquid. and the best-behaved printers of all are thermal printers: no ink and the head doesn't move. That's why every receipt printer is a thermal printer, because they need that shit to work all the time so they can sell shit. And thermal is the most reliable way to do that.

But yeah, cost-optimization is also a big part of why printers are such finicky unreliable bastards: you don't want to pay much for them. Who is excited for all the printing they're gonna be doing? basically nobody. But people get forced to have a printer because they gotta print something, for school or work or the government or whatever. So they want the cheapest thing that'll work. They're not shopping on features and functionality and design, they want something that costs barely anything, and can fucking PRINT. anything else is an optional bonus.

And here's the thing: there's a fundamental limit of how much you can optimize an inkjet printer, and we got near to it in like the late 90s. Every printer since then has just been a tad smaller, a tad faster, and added some gimmicks like printing from WIFI or bluetooth instead of needing to plug in a cable.

And that's the worst place to be in, for a computer component. The "I don't care how fancy it is, just give me one that works" zone. This is why you can buy a keyboard for 20$ and a mouse for 10$ and they both work plenty fine for 90% of users. They're objectively shit compared to the ones in the 60-150$ range, but do they work? yep. So that's what people get.

Printers fell into that zone long, long ago, when people stopped getting excited about "desktop publishing". So with printers shoved into the "make them as cheap as possible" zone, they have gotten exponentially shittier. Can you cut costs by 5$ a printer by making them jam more often? good. make them only last a couple years to save a buck or two per unit? absolutely. Can you make the printer cost 10$ less and make that back on the proprietary ink cartridges? oh, they've been doing that since Billy Clinton was in office.

It's the same place floppy disks were in in about 2000. CD-burners were not yet cheap enough, USB flash drives didn't exist yet (but were coming), modems weren't fast enough yet to copy stuff over the internet, superfloppies hadn't taken over like some hoped, and memory cards were too expensive and not everyone had a drive for them. So we still needed floppy disks, but at the same time this was a technology that hadn't changed in nearly 20 years. So people were tired of paying out the nose for them... the only solution? cut corners. I have floppy disks from 1984 that read perfectly, but a shrinkwrapped box of disks from 1999 will have over half the disks failed. They cut corners on the material quality, the QA process, the cleaning cloth inside the disk, everything they could. And the disks were shit as a result.

So, printers are in that particular note of the death-spiral where they've reached the point of "no one likes or cares about this technology, but it's still required so it's gone to shit". That's why they are so annoying, so unreliable, so fucking crap.

So, here's the good news:

You can still buy a better printer, and it will work far better. Laser printers still exist, and LED printers work the same way but even cheaper. They're still more expensive than inkjets (especially if you need color), but if you have to print stuff, they're a godsend. Way more reliable.

This is not a stable equilibrium. Printers cannot limp along in this terrible state forever. You know why I brought up floppy disk there? (besides the fact I'm a giant floppy disk nerd) because floppy disks GOT REPLACED. Have you used one this decade? CD-Rs and USB drives and internet sharing came along and ate the lunch of floppy disks, so much so that it's been over a decade since any more have been made. The same will happen to (inkjet) printers, eventually. This kind of clearly-broken situation cannot hold. It'll push people to go paperless, for companies to build cheaper alternatives to take over from the inkjets, or someone will come up with a new, more reliable printer based on some new technology that's now cheap enough to use in printers. Yeah, it sucks right now, but it can't last.

So, in conclusion: Printers suck, but this is both an innate problem caused by them having to deal with so much fucking Real World, and a local minimum of reliability that we're currently stuck in. Eventually we'll get out of this valley on the graph and printers will bother people a lot less.

Random fun facts about printing of the past and their local minimums:

in the hot metal type era, not only would the whole printing process expose you to lead, the most common method of printing text was the linotype, which could go wrong in a very fun way: if the next for a line wasn't properly justified (filling out the whole row), it could "squirt", and lead would escape through gaps in the type matrix. This would result in molten lead squirting out of the machine, possibly onto the operator. Anecdotally, linotype operators would sometimes recognize each other on the street because of the telltale spots on their forearms where they had white splotches where no hair grew, because they got bad lead burns. This type of printing remained in use until the 80s.

Another fun type of now-retired printers are drum printers, a type of line printer. These work something like a typewriter or dot-matrix printer, except the elements extend across the entire width of the paper. So instead of printing a character at time by smacking it into the paper, the whole line got smacked nearly at once. The problem is that if the paper jammed and the printer continued to try to print, that line of the paper would be repeatedly struck at high speed, creating a lot of heat. This worry created the now-infamous Linux error: "lp0 on fire". This was displayed when the error signals from a parallel printer didn't make sense... and it was a real worry. A high speed printer could definitely set the paper on fire, though this was rare.

So... one thing to be grateful about current shitty inkjet printers: they are very unlikely to burn anything, especially you.

(because before they could do that they'd have to work, at least a little, first, and that's very unlikely)

[tinkerkinkers2]

The Right Decision.

By TinkerKinkers

Based on a true story

“Ugh, where is she…?”

I sat and fidgeted with my phone, desperately hoping it would ding with an update from her. My stomach hit me with another wave of discomfort, reminding me of the desperation of my situation.

As I waited, I thought back on the 12 months prior, and the events that led up to my current predicament. If I had only been more careful… I didn’t know that she was checking my phone after I’d gone to sleep every night. I can’t even imagine the wild things she found on my secret Tumblr account. I just thought she was vanilla, I didn’t think there was any way she’d ever accept the things I only thought about in secret, let alone that she’d want to participate.

But when she came home from work early to surprise me on our one year anniversary, and found me humping a pillow in a thick, full, diaper, everything changed in an instant.

“What’s going on here?!” She said as she stood in our bedroom doorway.

My jaw hit the floor, my stomach met my throat, my ears started ringing. I’m not sure how I didn’t just black out.

“Jake, I’m not going to ask you again, what are you doing? Please explain this to me, RIGHT NOW!”

I don’t even remember those first few minutes or what came out of my mouth, but it must have been mostly gibberish, I just remember how relieved I was when she cut me off.

“Just stop. I’ve seen what you’ve been looking at on your phone, I already know. I just didn’t think this was really something you wanted… I just wish you would have talked to me about this. But here you are, on our anniversary, acting like… I don’t even know.”

She dropped her head into her hands and pulled at her hair, taking a deep breath in.

“Okay, listen to me. We need to talk.” She said, looking up with resolve now. She came and grabbed me by the wrist, pulling me into the living room.

I don’t remember most of the conversation, my nervous system was in full flight mode, but I was somehow glued to the sofa. I wished to be out of my diaper so badly.

“Well if this is what you want, this is what we’re going to do, but it’s going to be by my rules. Got it?” She said, somehow bringing me back into my body.

I didn’t even know what exactly what I was agreeing to, but I swallowed hard enough to finally be able to speak.

“Wait, please, I’m so sorry, you don’t have to do this though, I can stop, I promise!” I said with a tongue that felt like a brick.

“I’ve done enough research to know that that’s unlikely. But I appreciate you saying that. Also, you’ll be calling me ‘Mommy’ until I tell you otherwise. C’mon now.” She snapped back quickly.

With that she led me back into the bedroom…

—————————

“DING” My mind snapped back to the present as I looked down at my phone.

“Hey sweetie! Sorry, work went late today, I’ll be home in 30 minutes or so. How’s your diaper doing little one?”

I furiously texted back; “Mommy! My tummy hurts so bad! Please can I use the potty?!” I was desperate. I knew the rules. I couldn’t ever touch my own diapers. I knew what she would say, but there was so much more at stake today, of all days.

*DING* “Sweetie, you know the rules. Please hold it till I get home. I really do want to have sex with you tonight, especially since it’s our anniversary. But if you mess yourself, that’s definitely not happening. I’m in the car now. See you soon love. Please make the right decision.”

My fingers couldn’t move fast enough, they felt like sticks of concrete against my phone, I knew she was already driving but I had to try;

“Please!!! I don’t think I can make it!”

*Read at 4:33pm*

No response.

I waited. I went upstairs to lay on the bed, hoping to ease some of the pressure in my gut. My tiny penis strained in its cage thinking about her. Every minute drug on for hours. Each wave of pressure in my stomach stronger than the last. It was 4:55pm, and I couldn’t hold it any more. I had a last ditch plan. Maybe if she’s distracted when she gets home she’ll just tell me to jump in the shower and get ready for dinner without even checking my diaper, it wouldn’t have been too far fetched of a scenario, it’s happened a few times before, and we were already cutting it close for our reservation. She would definitely notice if the diaper tapes had been tampered with though, I learned that lesson the hard way. There was no way I was gonna miss my chance to have sex again. It’s been a long and desperate 12 months.

I convinced myself this plan could work. I moved to the floor and squatted in my droopy diaper, I felt a gap between my butt and the soggy padding, a space that I realized was about to be filled. I prayed that the probiotics I’d been taking would minimize the smell, if so, I might have a chance at this plan actually succeeding. My legos were still strewn about on the floor where I was playing earlier, I stepped carefully to avoid the sharp pieces. I grabbed my teddy bear, happy that he still happened to be there for me, holding him somehow gave me some reassurance. Just getting into position started to relieve some of the pressure. I tried to relax and give a slight push. Instantly, it felt like I had released a soft slick submarine into the thick damp diaper around my butt. The padding resisted the push initially but my mess quickly softened and filled every bit of space within my diaper, pushing the padding even further out from my skin. I winced as I felt my shame simultaneously spread from the top of my but to the tip of my cage. Another wave of cramps hit me. I tried to breath through it. I didn’t think my diaper could hold more but I didn’t have a choice at this point, my body gave way and released more soft goo into the back seat of my already full diaper. I finally felt some relief, and exhaled deeply, burying my face further into my teddy bear…

“Oh wow….. well that was quite a show sweetie…” Her voice startled me.

My face flushed instantly at the sound of her, my heart dropped, my ears rang, the false sympathy in her tone lit my face on fire. “Oh no, please no….” I thought, “this can’t be real… How did I not hear the keys in the door?”

“Looks like someone is a stinky boy!” She said with a slightly elevated tone now.

She stepped a few feet inside the doorway and paused, hands on her hips. She saw me still squatting, knees bent, legs apart, hiding my face behind my teddy bear, trying not to move, trying not to worsen the mess I’d already made.

“Uh oh....” Her voice slightly deepening as she slowly walked towards me. I knew she wanted to see my face and make me admit what I did. She never missed an opportunity to turn me all shades of red. As she approached I could feel my pulse intensify. I was ready to say whatever I had to say to get this humiliation over with as quickly as possible. There might still be a chance to be free tonight if I complied.

She gently pushed the stuffy away from my face, taking my chin in her hand, lifting my face to meet hers.

“What happened here sweetie?”She said as she reached her other hand around me to firmly pat my bottom. I cringed and flinched as she used her palm to spread my mess even more. I hoped this would be over soon.

“It, it was an… uuhhh… accident...”

“I can see that baby boy... and smell it too.” She said with a side smile, and wrinkled nose. “Are you sure it was an ‘accident’ though?”

The smirk on her face intensified my shame. She turned and walked a few steps away from me. For a moment I thought my embarrassment was finished, that she’d release me from my stinky shame. But she kneeled down and started clearing some of the legos, making a clear spot on the floor. She lightly patted the spot she’d cleared.

“Do you wanna show me what you were building over here kiddo?” Her smile widening even more.


I was confused, what was she doing? She knows what I did, I needed a diaper change! Why did she care about the stupid legos? The realization of her intentions suddenly hit me and I started to panic a little, as she started walking back towards me. Before I knew it, she held my wrist firmly in her hand and was guiding me over to the spot.

“Come on kiddo! Let’s see what you’ve been building here!” She said as she started to kneel down, my wrist still in her grasp, forcing me to squat. I instinctively dropped to both knees when I was low enough and stabilized myself with the hand that was still holding my teddy.

“Why don’t you sit down and show mommy what you were making huh?”

My ears were ringing, I was so nervous, full panic mode.

“Oh please don’t make me do this!” I thought.

I remember wishing she wasn’t so attractive, I knew she was wearing a low cut top just to drive me even more crazy, and the mini skirt… not much was left to my imagination. I felt my pathetic penis strain against its plastic chastity cage, in spite of my overwhelming shame. By now her smile had turned into a full devilish grin and she was directly in front of me.

“I uhh… I umm… mommy I… mommy can we…”

I couldn’t even form a coherent thought, let alone think of a way to talk myself out of this situation.

“Stop stuttering sweetie, use your words.”

Her eye contact was relentless, I felt like she was looking right through me. It was too much to reciprocate.

“I need a diaper change mommy.” The words dumped out of me, like they came from someone else.

“You’ll get a change when I think you need a change little one, now sit down and show mommy what you’ve been working on mister!”

There was a sternness in her voice now that frightened me a little. I had a feeling she wouldn’t take “no” for an answer, but I had to try, this was just too humiliating to accept, and I knew I’d regret it later if I didn’t at least try something. I began to get off my knees, to get my feet under me, maybe I could stand up and at least distract her.

Before I could fully stand she put her hands on my shoulders and stopped me from getting up any further.

“Sweetie, we’re not going anywhere until you do what I’ve told you to do. Now sit down!”

The tone of her voice was enough to make me realize she was dead serious. Before I could decide for myself how this would happen, I felt her pressing down on my shoulders as I caught myself slightly falling, leaning back on both hands.

My drooping diaper was now inches from the floor, she moved her right hand from my shoulder down to the front of my diaper. In any other situation, I would have expected this to mean some special attention down there, and my hips instinctively thrust into her hand. She responded with a gentle but firm squeeze and pressure, causing my tiny member to throb even harder in its cage, but I realized my bottom was getting closer to the floor as she rubbed me.

She paused just as my diaper made soft contact with the carpet, I whimpered and finally made eye contact while giving my last thrust of resistance, almost as if to say “please no…”

“Shhhh…. it’s okay sweetie, be a good boy for mommy and sit down.” She said as she continued to press down

I wasn’t prepared for what I felt. The mess was much bigger than I thought as it spread even more, slowly outwards towards the front and back of my diaper. Shame washed over me and my face was burning with embarrassment. The thick mush spreading inside was sensory overload, moving into every crevasse of my underside. My tiny penis had now grown to fill all usable space of the already small chastity tube, and was begging for more room. I groaned and whimpered again as mommy’s hand continued to apply pressure to the front of my diaper, which caused me to fully come to rest on my bottom, there was no space in my diaper left uncovered by my mess. I saw the telltale brown stains inside the leg gathers that were now desperately holding on. It felt like I was sitting down but the shifting yuckyness under me made me unsure of my seating.

“Aww there you go baby boy!” She said, her tone finally softening.

I let out a few tears as I brought my teddy up to my face again. Mommy then started to massage where her hand already was on my diaper. She knew I couldn’t help but grind back against her hand in desperation. I heard her giggle a bit, surely relishing in my abject humiliation, which in turn only made me cringe all the more, yet the inner turmoil seemed to only burn hotter as I continued to squirm and thrust.

She moved even closer to me now, I could feel her warmth and smell her perfume, in sharp contrast to my now pungent odor.

She brought her face towards mine as if too kiss me, but shifted and whispered into my ear;

“You are such a good boy sweetie. You made the right decision.”

She kissed my forehead softly before she stood back up. She reached out both hands for me to grasp.

“C’mon up now kiddo! Let’s get another diaper over that one really quick, we don’t wanna be late for dinner!”

[ultimate-shipper-blog]

My Darling

"Who even is that guy?"

"That's my darling"

----

It starts with a post.

Eddie had posted a photo on Instagram holding his acoustic guitar, cross legged on a chair.

Recently he had been front cover of a magazine of 'him' wrapped around a young woman. Living the Rockstar life.

His agent had suggested he show a more domestic side to him, a softer side.

Hence the acoustic.

It was summer so Steve was off of work and sleeping on the couch behind him, blankets up to his ears. The only thing visible was his hair peeking out and his arm hanging over the side of the couch. A sleeve of tattoos running down it all the way to his knuckles. Eddie loved that arm. He loved the way the tattoo curved around his knuckles like water. His nice, big. veiny hand that-

WOAH off topic.

He had done half the tattoos himself and made sure he payed for it all.It was the least he could do for all Steve has done for him.

They met eight and a half years ago, Steve had seen Eddie play at shitty clubs and recognized his mop of hair getting hit in the alleyway.

Eddie thought he was a goner for sure until Steve ripped the guy off him.

Steve just shot him a smile and complimented his guitar skills.

Eddie fell to his knees. He was gone for him.

He invited Steve to band practice as a thank you since he didn't have much to offer.

Two weeks later they were dating and Steve has been their number one fan since.

When Eddie got the record deal he dedicated everything to Steve.

Everything always was for him. As it should be.

Anyways,

Eddie posted the photo excited to promote the acoustic cover of his hit song 'My Hero, My Darling'.

The comments instantly went ballistic asking who the random man behind him was. He definitely wasn't in the band and why would notorious lady killer Eddie Munson have a man in his house...he couldn't possibly have friends.

Eddie responded to one comment only, knowing the rest would sort itself out.

"That's my darling ❤️"

----

"Eddie," Steve was frowning at him, poking his side with his foot.

"Eddie look at me this is serious."

"Yes my love?"

"You outed yourself. You were doing such a good job keeping this a secret. This will change everything."

Eddie turns over until his holding Steve close to him, his face in his hands.

"Good. I'm tired of hiding you my darling. I'm tired of the accusations."

"But Eddie you OUTED yourself."

"I won't say anything about you, I'd never out you Stevie. But I'm done hiding that I'm a simple man in love."

"...me too. I'm done too."

"Darling are you sure? This is a big deal. What about your school? Your principal?"

"I don't care. Everyone important to me knows. My family, my real family, know and don't care. They do wonder why I've been single for eight years but they'll get over it."

"Marry me."

"What?"

"Marry me oh my god that's the hottest thing I've ever heard. I love you so much please I can't live another moment not having you mine. Besides, if you get fired that's definitely a lawsuit and you know I've been pleasing for you to quit so I can take care of you, but you love those damn kids. Just...be mine...please."

"I've been yours. Since the start. Since always." They both have tears in their eyes.

"Yes?"

"YES OF COURSE YES!"

They're giggling through their kisses.

---

"Heeeeyyy everyone thanks for joining my live. I have something super important to inform you on! I'm getting married!!!!!"

The comments instantly flood in questioning him on moving too fast, asking if he's on drugs. The usual.

"Oooooh you guys have no idea."

----

The photo goes up an hour after the live ends.

It's Steve sitting on the couch, glasses on, red pen in his mouth. He's wearing a thick sweater and grumbling grading papers.

He looks so soft, so smooth, it's Eddie's favorite picture. The next picture in the carousel is Steve backstage at his concert. They're holding onto each other like they need each other to breathe.

The last picture is a selfie taken minutes after. Eddie with his stage makeup sweating off his face smiling brightly at the camera. and Steve kissing his cheek. Eyes squinted shut and eyeliner thick, he had worn it as a treat for Eddie.

It was well received.

The caption reads:

"I'm so happy to announce I'm marrying my best friend and partner of eight years! Everyone meet my darling. Steve is a local middle school teacher who has literally saved my life more than once. He saved my heart. God, I love him so much.

P.s. yes the tours are in the summer so Stevie can travel with us. I'd never leave him."

---

Bonus engagement edition:

"YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED TO EDDIE MUNSON?!"

"Yes. We've been over this."

Eddie stuck out his hand to shake, "hi, Eddie Munson, nice to meet you."

"YOU HID THIS FOR EIGHT YEARS?!"

"Yes."

"I'M BASICALLY YOUR BROTHER! HE'S MY FAVORITE CELEBRITY!"

"Yes Dustin and you can't keep a secret."

"...fair...welcome to the family."

*inspired by my friend only learning her cousin was marrying someone famous when he showed up to Thanksgiving and she lost her mind

[hermaeusmorax]

What have you done?

CHARACTERS: Jayce x reader, slight Viktor x reader (more platonic!)

SUMMARY: you, Jayce and Viktor share history. You're arguing with Jayce about his actions in the Undercity. Reader is described having a metal arm!

WARNINGS: SET IN SEASON 02 EPISODE 06 SPOILERS AHEAD! this is very angsty, descriptions of death and bodies, gets steamy in the end (minors DNI!), enemies to lovers type shit (my jam!)

A/N: okay so this is my very first piece after a 4 years HIATUS (hiii haha), anyways, fucked up Hexcore!Jayce is just sooo *twirls hair*

"What have you done?" You scream as you blindly lunge towards Jayce, a random weapon tightly clutched in your hands — no doubt discarded by some, now dead, Noxian soldier. You could barely see an inch in front of you due to the surging chaos, but you were sure about Jayce, you would never mistake him, his silhouette, his scent.

It had been months since Jinx's attack on the Counsil. Months since Viktor emerged out of the Hexcore changed, taking you to Zaun with him and leaving Jayce behind. You were a chemist, Viktor's childhood best friend that stuck by him since the very beginning. You and Jayce had a brief, intense, spark. It happened before him and Mel, before it became hard to grasp his attention, being Piltover's golden star and everything. It hurt when you left him, standing at the laboratory, his pleading brown eyes boring holes into yours and Viktor's backs. But Viktor was right, your paths, your visions, had long strayed, being held together only by lasting affection.

In Zaun, at Viktor's — The Herald's — growing community, you acted as a chemist again. Helping the newly cured zaunites, researching to improve their lives as much as possible. You had been specially busy since Vander's arrival, severely mutilated by Viktor's former teacher and in desperate need of help. You were working in your makeshift lab, absent mindedly humming a familiar tune when hell broke loose.

A loud, sharp sound echoed, followed by more crashing sounds and piercing screams. Smoke rose in the air, making it almost impossible to inhale. For a split second you could hear Viktor's voice in your head whispering, "Jayce", you ran as fast as your legs permitted, desperate to locate the origin of the sound, to locate Viktor. When you finally did find them, you wished you hadn't. The starking image of his limp and dead body made your breath hitch, mind speeding so much to make sense of things it made you dizzy. Blood rushed to your ears, making a deafening ringing sound, you rubbed your eyes, squinting to adjust, then you saw another figure, a tall and dark frame.

Jayce looked, different, but your brain had no time to process that information as you grabbed the first weapon you could find thrown on the floor, lunging at him. "What did you do?" "How could you?" "I hate you!" you breathlessly shout, aiming for Jayce's head with your stray weapon, then again, you never were much of a fighter, that was Jayce's job. The last thing you heard before the world went complete black, was his voice, a cry of your name, sounding so broken and lost.

"Sorry for knocking you out like that. I hope your head's not hurting too much." you heard Jayce's soft voice, distant at first as you were regaining consciousness, then close, right at your ears. You slowly woke up, blinking the throbbing pain away you were at last able to recognize your surroundings.

Jayce had brought you to your old laboratory, right at Piltover's heart, where you had last seen him, where you had left him. You were sitting in a chair, your mechanical arm resting on the table beside you, laying alongside dirty, well-worn tools. "I fixed it. Your arm. It looked broken and I-" Jayce blurted out, stopping with a nervous chuckle when you looked at him. "My technique might not be as delicate as Viktor's but it's fixed, working. I promise!". When Viktor's name left Jayce's lips, a haunting image of his corpse flashed in your mind, compelling you to leap forward and forcefully grab Jayce's collar, gripping so tight your knuckles turned white, drained of blood. You were trembling horribly, fueled by an ugly mixture of grief and hatred, your words came out hoarse, stinging like a whip.

"You promise? Ha! You killed him Jayce! You- you just disappear and then when you finally come to us, you go and kill him? What's wrong with you? I don't know you anymore, you've become someone else entirely and I- No!" you were panting, tears angrily threatening to spill "That's too gentle for you, you're a murderer, Jayce, a monster!".

Jayce's mind was racing, spinning with the force of your words and then it finally snapped. "Shut the fuck up!" he tore your hands away from his shirt, holding your wrists and pulling you close, pressed up against his chest. "You have no idea Y/N! You can't possibly begin to understand what I was put through!" "I was in there, while you and Viktor were out here playing house!" "I kept my promise!".

Jayce's eyes were red, frantically shaking looking into your own, in desperate search of something. He was so close, you could feel his heartbeat and his breath fanning your face, his scent was attacking your nostrils mercilessly, engulfing you in his presence. Like this you could almost see the old Jayce inside there, somewhere — untainted, full of promise — the one you fell hard for. All it took was a single look from him. A single, meaningful, glance down to your mouth from his so pretty brown eyes. He was so, so close. Next thing you knew you and Jayce were in each other's arms, kissing so forcefully it almost broke skin. Kissing like your very lives depend on it, like you'll die of asphyxiation if you stop.

Jayce hoisted you up the table, sending tools and papers flying, both of you couldn't care less right now. He positioned himself in between your legs, leaning some of his body weight on you, forcing your back to meet the cold surface beneath. "Jayce!" you breathed out, talking into his mouth, gasping for air and breaking the kiss for a second too long. Your hands, firmly resting on the back of his neck, wandered to the hem of your shirt, fidgeting with it, trying to lose it. Jayce noticed and made quick work of your shirt, hurriedly sliding it over your head and tossing aside to a forgotten corner.

"Don't stop" you huffed against him again, voice dripping with want, you struggled blindly to unbuckle his belt, too busy reciprocating his fervent kisses to bother to look down. "I got you" Jayce urged, going crazy with the way your lips felt on his, even more addicting than he remembers. He reached down, tugging off your pants and underwear in one precise motion. Your senses were completely overwhelmed, all you were able to think, see, hear, smell and feel was Jayce.

You were both pouring everything into this kiss, into this very moment. Bleeding years of bottled up love and regrets into each other's systems. Even still, you harbored feelings for him, and him you. Despite the hurricane of emotions and thoughts swirling inside your head, a small, nagging voice coming from the darkest dephts of your mind, kept quietly chanting "What have you done, Y/N?"

[multicohn]

summary: y/n comforts a very nervous lando before the las vegas grand prix

warnings: typos, missing words ( maybe )

paring: fem! reader x lando norris

genre: comfort

author note: for the lando fans — he still has next year :)

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

after a rather terrible qualifying, lando had been slightly shaky knowing that max is right beside him on the grid. the car didn’t feel right, but he prayed that it would be much better tomorrow.

his silence slightly unnerved his girlfriend who was also disappointed, but didn’t show it. she kissed him lightly on the cheek when he finally returned from the interviews. lando wanted them over and done with so he went right-away instead of greeting y/n and then leaving.

lando changed quickly while y/n packed up their things. he took a hold of her hand and their stuff before marching out of the paddock. y/n wasn’t use to him walking so fast and found herself stumbling a little, but thankfully they made it to their car before y/n tripped over.

y/n wanted to speak up, but knew that she needed to be patient and wait for lando.

the silence and patience was kept up until they were alone in their hotel room. lando let out a large sigh before throwing himself onto their bed.

“i’m going to lose” he said just as she sat down next to him

he had been like this since brazil. his nerves were getting to him and made him overthink. what happens if he crashes like last year? what if the car fails? so many question that he couldn’t get an answer too.

“you still have the constructors, and you’re still young — sort of…” he gave her a look and y/n smiled nervously, “what i mean is that you still have a lot of time left in f1, plus this gives you an advantage of what to expect next year”

lando sighed again before rolling over and wrapping his arms around her waist.

“lando” he hummed before looking up at her

“no matter what happens tomorrow. i’m still so proud of you for this year”

lando stared at his girlfriend whose eyes only held softness and care for him. he repositioned himself before slowly reaching up to grab her cheeks and pull her down into a kiss.

even if he didn’t win tomorrow, even if he didn’t take the championship fight to qatar, even without the title of “drivers would champion”, y/n would always consider him a winner.

[mediacircuspod]

This scene was absolutely beautiful BUT it’s also the crux of the issue. You guys this is where the problems start. Because—because Crowley’s already cast out, he finds COMFORT in the idea that they are lonely together. “As far as he can” becoming “as far as they can” is an END to his complete “otherness” and something to appreciate, to covet, and to find solace in. He’s finally not alone.

But—and this is important.

Aziraphale does NOT feel that. He can’t.

This moment is completely and utterly devastating for Zira. He finds out he’s not damned and sure, he’s relieved. But he’s no longer “an Angel” in the way that he’s learned is right. He’s now unchangeably and forever; less holy—a concept that is dearly important to his identity. “[Going] along with heaven as far as he can” is a FAILING on his part. Not heaven’s(at least to him). There is no solace or comfort—he finds existence like that—just the two of them—achingly LONELY. And that’s just how his perspective demands to be taken. It’s the only perspective he is capable of in that moment AND after it, too.

Take into account Crowley has went from having no one AT ALL to having SOMEONE. And he puts EVERYTHING he has into it. This is not good. It’s unfair to Aziraphale. And it’s unfair to himself. On the opposite side, you have Aziraphale. Who has just went from having the ENTIRE HEAVENLY HOST, to having this SINGLE demon— who, one minute ago, Aziraphale thought would be dragging him off to hell.

And the part that aches is that this perspective hasn’t changed. Aziraphale feels like his existence is lacking because he wants so badly to be GOOD. And good is Holy. Good is heavenly. He’s the problem for having morals that are misaligned.

Spoilers for the last episode:

Aziraphale has just been given the validation that he is not only GOOD but the most HEAVENLY Angel there is, the Supreme Archangel, even. And if heavens morals are now HIS morals, then that’s EVERY PROBLEM SOLVED. With a bow even, because Crowley’s basically on heavens side anyway, he’s GOOD, isn’t he? He’s been good this whole time, so why wouldn’t heaven want him back? Reinstating him as Angel would fix everything. They can be together, and they can be good, and they can be HOLY. All Aziraphale’s conflicting emotions about loving Crowley can be packed away because Crowley will be perfect again—and surely Crowley wants to be perfect—wants to be forgiven.(sorry everyone, that hurt me too, oof) Aziraphale is SHOCKED by Crowley’s refusal. He’s devastated that his version of perfect is treated as something naive and distasteful.

Crowley’s devastated too. He’s just lost “their side”. A concept that for 5000+ years has been THE ONLY THING he puts love into besides his car and perhaps his plants(And humanity, but he’ll never admit to that—I’m looking at the “No more dying” scene). Crowley is constantly being devastated by Aziraphale. He’s “too fast”, he’s too evil, he’s too good sometimes. Crowley has always been TOO MUCH. But this is different because for four years, he’s had “them”(on their own side) without the hiding, and without the denial and without Aziraphale constantly putting former jobs between them. PLUS he has a mountain of trauma centered around the concept of “forgiveness”, so that’s not great considering Aziraphale’s last words to him(THAT HE HASNT SAID ALL SEASON EVEN WHEN HE MADE CROWLEY APOLOGIZE IN THE FIRST EPISODE, AHHHHH). He’s losing everything and he’s desperate: Why isn’t he enough, hasn’t he been enough these last 4 years? Hasn’t HE been enough the last 6000?

Aziraphale has always been enough for Crowley. But being enough for Crowley doesn’t fix how Aziraphale has never been enough for himself, not since Job. He looks at this offer as a chance for HIM to be enough, and for Crowley to be FORGIVEN. Crowley looks at it as a betrayal because it’s Aziraphale saying Crowley ISNT enough, and he NEVER has been.

But that’s not what Aziraphale is saying. He’s saying, “Let me fix it for you”. Crowley is hearing, “Let me fix you for it.” Two completely different and completely horrifying concepts.

And then Crowley needs to say HIS piece(oh my gosh, btw, this was heartbreaking).

“Let’s be together on our terms” is basically what I’ve distilled it down to. But Aziraphale hears, “Let’s run away from our problems”

Aziraphale doesn’t want to run away, and Crowley doesn’t want to change who he is.

They both want to be together so badly but they don’t understand why they each want it so differently. And Aziraphale can’t compromise because he’s brainwashed and LOATHES himself. And Crowley can’t compromise because he’s traumatized and LOVES Aziraphale just as he is. Crowley doesn’t want to be good on heavens terms. He can see Heaven for what it is; “toxic”. He hates heaven not only for what the Host did to him, but for HOW THEY TREATED Aziraphale.

They both don’t understand each other because for all the pleading and presenting and monologuing, they never once in that whole conversation, actually talked.

[aliceinborderlandsquidgame]

Wrong move | The Salesman x Fem!Reader

Summary: He thought you were in love with him....maybe he needs to show you how much you need him.

Warnings: SFW - Possessive!Salesman - Obsessive!Salesman - Controling!Salesman - Red flag basically - Unhealthy relationship - Power imbalance - DARK!Salesman - grammar mistakes -

Note: Not part of "Home Bliss", this is a different universe.

"No"

These were the words that have been in the Salesman's mind for a week now. His aparment, a place he used to love coming to since you were here waiting for him now felt like a empy box. Walls too grey to look at, too dull. The food did not have teaste and his bed felt too big.

When did things go wrong ? He did everything right.

Saw you one day at the local park, got enamoured by you. Followed you around, got to know your schendelure so he could see you from afar. Was able to hack your phone to know every last detail. Your social media were poorly secured. He got to know you like he knew his own skin, when he finally did approach you, you were already his.

And after two years, two years of beautiful moments together, perfectly crafted by him, each one calculated and made so you would fall more and more for him. He got you to move in with him, he was accepted by your friends, your family loved him, and saw him like part of it.

He was sure, centrain that this was the right moment. The perfect one. This was your favorite season, favorite month, perfect hour of the day and a well secured place so you would not feel pressure over it.

Some part of him wanted you to come to him willing.

But your words were marked liked fire. The exchange and after events lived rent free inside his head.

How he had managed to keep his facade he has no idea. The aparment (after you refused to get back) was the one that suffered his rage. All the expensive forniture was destroyed by him, some walls had blood by how much he had punched them.

He was a mess, a disaster. How could yo do it  ? After everything? Weren't you two the perfect match ?

A ding from his phone, the ding he had set just for you sounded.

"Sorry, I think its better if we stop seeing each other. I will pass to get my things soon"

The phone went flying. Were you breaking up with him by text ? When he had read all the exchange with your friends  ? Like how scared you were and how fast it felt. Why were you doing this?

And your doubts ? He never saw them, you seemed content by his side. And loved him like that.

But your personal diary on your phone said different. You felt trapped, like he knew too much, like he was not being honest.

Maybe he should have been more...severe? Showing you just how bad he could be, maybe he let your leash go too large and now he was paying the consequences.

But would he give up ? No. After all you were just confused, and scared, you just needed a reminder of how much you needed him. How he could be the only one for you.

He took the phone back, the screen broke but other functions working. He ignored your message and instead went to his contacts. He had many friends, friends that could ruin you completly.

"I need a favor"

Leaving him was the start of your nightmare.

~○~○~○~○~○~○~○~○~○~

At first the relationship was fine. How does peopel put it ? Honeymoon? Well you two had it for very long.

He was the man any woman could ask for, gentle, caring, doting, never forgot a special date. And would get your favorite things.

But something was off. His eyes, the same dark eyes that sparked when he saw you, these eyes would change to sharp and cold around others. You felt like he was always on you, even when being away for work, he would just know when to send you a message or call you.

Would meet you randomly on the streets, knew when you wanted to do something even when you never mentioned it.

Something was wrong. Your gut told you to run from him but you did not know how. After all on the eyes of everyone he was perfect.

Then he asked to marry you, and you saw your chance. You could say you got scared and that things just did not work out after it.

But it did not go that way.

Once you had got your things from his aparment your Boss called, he had said how sorry he was but the company was cutting off some employees and you were one of them.

Your work, your dream work. The one you had passed years preparing yourself, tears and blood for it. The one that made your parents proud.

Ripped out from you with one call.

Then it came your social circle. Slowly your Friends stopped meeting with you, some removed you from their social media, and some blocked your number. You never got to know what was wrong, or what you did.

And later your parents, it was a shame losing your job, it was worse not being able to get another one.

"Sorry we are looking for something different"

"Your solicitude was read but right now we need another thing"

"We will call you"

Rent became impossible, and so you had to move back with them. Your mother was not happy, telling you how much of a failure you were, how your brother was making money overseas and how your sister had made a family.

Your father did not even look at you. Like he felt guilty, not even the company he used to work for would take you in.

Your days became a circle of sending out curriculums and doing your best to keep your parents happy even when you knew they did not want you there.

And some days you would go to the park and cry. Not caring if others saw you, your life was ruined, you had nothing. Maybe....maybe if you had said yes....

Checking your phone you saw the contacts, mom, dad, brother, sister and him. You were sure you had removed his number but it kept coming back. Maybe you were getting sick because of the stress.  Your finger went over the call buttom till you finally hitted it.

~○~○~○~○~○~○~○~○~○

He never wanted to see you like this, so broken, so out of life. Maybe he had insolated you too much. Let some lies to your Friends and mother that grew and now they hated you. Your father was a rough one, he had used some...other methods for him. But did coperate at the end.

"You dont seem so good" Were his first words and you looked down at your lap.

"Im sorry for have called you.., after everything"

"Dont say anything. I was glad I got your call. I wanted to know how you were doing" He lied, he knew you were miserable.

Only him could fix it.

"I have...well things have been bad" You addmited "I dont want to burden you with it, maybe this was a mistake"

You went to get up and leave but a firm grip on your hand stopped you. His eyes, cold and sharp like he was seeing his prey.

You, you were his prey.

"Sit" It was an order not a request "Lets talk for a bit more, maybe I can help you, for the old times"

~○~○~○~○~○~○~○~○~○

"Are you sure? (Y/N) you can still go back and say no" Your fathers voice cut off.

You were wearing a beautiful weeding dress, outside from a ceremenoy to take place.

"Dad...you have been saying that since I told mom and you that I was getting married. This is good, we actually made up and I even got my work back, with double pay. Was not what you wanted for me?"

Your father did not respond. He still remembers that night. The night your "perfect" boyfriend appear. When he told him how your life would be so bad you would be wishing you were gone.

"And if thats not enoguh, maybe leaving her limp like you will do the trick"

He had tried for many months to hide his injury, the injury that man had caused him and promised to do the same to you.

"Dad? Its your leg hurting? You are crying"

"No dear, im fine. A little emotional to see you go"

When the doors opened and he walked you in and saw the monster you were going to marry he felt like dying there. When he gave you to him he could see it, he was liking his pain.

"I will take good care of her" Were his only words, and by the time his eyes were on you it had changed.

Love? Obsession ? A twisted sense of care ? No one could tell, no one dared to ask.

Him ? He was just happy you finally accepted what was best for you.

Him, he was the best for you.

"Till death do us apart"

Not even death would be able to separate you from him.